Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 6 are related and may be discussed together.

Pursuant to Standing Order 194(3), it is reported to the Dáil that the Long Title has been amended.

I invite the Minister to speak. Leanaimid ar aghaidh.

Within the last while in Dundalk, County Louth and across the State, parents have made applications for their primary school children to get a place in secondary schools. Unfortunately, a number of those in Dundalk and its environs have had to make contact with me. I will go through these very quickly. My daughter got rejected. We are absolutely devastated. [...] My son has not been selected for any school for next year. [...] My son is now the only boy from his soccer team, Gaelic team and hurling team that does n…

Could the Tánaiste provide a route map? These people here should be-----

I appreciate it.

Before I start, I would like to welcome Councillor Kevin Meenan to this illustrious place. Obviously, he will be absolutely delighted to be mentioned and will not be embarrassed by it in any way, shape or form. In fairness, he will probably also say that the best thing I could do would be to use ChatGPT to prepare my speech rather than delivering what I am going to come out with now. Anyway, we are where we are. I was in a committee earlier today dealing with the issue of drugs and the completely disastrous impact …

I am very glad that the issue of drugs has been raised. I have said before that I do not think we are having a real conversation. I do not think we are asking the right questions, whether we are talking about drug gangs, young people who fall into crime or the chaos that is caused in communities where there is a crossover with poverty and intergenerational trauma. I spoke to the Garda Commissioner. I did not have time at the committee, so it ended up being a private conversation. I am talking about a lot more than …

I want to bring up the attempt by Darver National School in County Louth to have two autism classes sanctioned. The initial engagement between the principal, the SENO and the NCSE took place in June 2025. This was followed up throughout September and October, with no word back. It is absolutely supported by the patrons and the board of management and all have tried to make contact. We need to ensure that this happens but we also need to ensure that the school is contacted. I do not think this is okay. I am just giv…

This relates to parking spaces and planning. It should be a very small piece of work to get this changed to account for the 45 staff and also enough bays for the minibuses. At this point, there is not space. It would be very cheap to get it changed at this point. A contractor is on for this. If not at this point, then we could be talking about something that could cost €100,000-plus.

On the two issues, if I could write to the Taoiseach and if his good offices would be able to put some pressure on-----

In fairness these are critical time-wise.

I will deal initially with auto-enrolment. In fairness, it has been said by a number of my colleagues that we are not against it in principle, but we do not agree with the methodology behind the operation of this particular auto-enrolment scheme. Obviously, the issue is that we believe the home of this money should have been the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, and it could have been put aside for infrastructural spending and whatever. However, I would like to deal very specifically with the issues that h…

-----and some movement but there is a lot more to do. Unfortunately, I have no more time. There has been some flexibility shown to me by the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, so I thank him for that.

Will the Minister provide the reasons her Department accredits with the lengthy waiting lists for assessment of need? There has been much discussion on this in the last while. There has also been talk of developing legislation in this area. Will the Minister make a statement on the matter? From my last parliamentary question, the number of people on the waiting list is somewhere between 17,000 and 18,000; therefore, there is a lot to be done.

We all know the issue. The Minister is stating that the reason is the increase in population. We all accept that on some level. However, she is also stating that parents are trying to explore all options available to them. They are doing this out of frustration. I have heard that people who previously would have been able to get a service in primary care in other sets of circumstances are all being put on the assessment of need list. Therefore, can we have an assessment of the assessment of need list in relation to…

I welcome the fact that we are not talking about removing that one right parents have to the six months. I have no particular issue with looking at the best means of offering assessments and therapies - we have had that conversation before - but, as the Minister herself has stated, we have issues in the system itself as to where referrals are going onto the assessment of need list. I am back to the operation of the AON administrative hubs, the Cara's fund money and the use of private practitioners. Have we maxed ou…

What will that look like?

The change in legislation.

I wish to ask the Minister about her engagement with Tusla. I think we have all been absolutely shocked by the tragedies of Kyran Durnin, Daniel Aruebose, Vadym Davydenko and the really distressing case of the ten-year-old who was sexually assaulted and who had been in the care of Tusla. I accept that the Minister cannot get into the ins and outs of these very specific cases, but perhaps we could find out about the review mechanisms and what has been done and then ensure we have the proper protocols and protections…